Cold Weather Gear. Blue And Butternut

[richard]

As I sit by the hot wood stove, watching the snow fall and having a steaming hot cup of coffee, my mind drifts to thoughts of that cold day at Mossy Creek in 1863. Sunday the temperature here in sunny Indiana dipped to 3 below zero with a wind chill of about 23 below. It was darn cold out side. At Mossy Creek, December 31st, the temperature dropped to 29 below zero over night from just about freezing. Both Longstreet's men and the Union men were ill prepared for such weather. The next morning, Wheels of the wagons, caissons, artillery and anything else that sank into the mud had to be cut out with axes. Pickets on both sides fell into a sleep that they would not awaken from. It has been said that thousands of fence rails were burned that night. At least one house was set afire and countless barns were burned just so the men could roast on one side and freeze on the other.

Not having researched the clothing of the period, I am wondering how did the armies prepare for such extreme weather?

[johan_steele]

The only side that had an issue w/ truly severe cold was the Union and almost exclusively was along the frontier, not dealing w/ the CS, and they quickly adapted by looking at what the Natives were doing. In particluar the use of Buffalo robes. Men along the frontier dealing w/ the Lakota, Dakota etc mention using them. There is also mention of the insanity of ordering troops to extinguish fires after lights out as the worry of fire was more foreboding than men waking in the morning w/ frostbite or cases of hypothermia.

I have done events in the chill before, sleeping under canvas in below zero temps and done ok. The "American stove" & rock stove are both extremely effective add layering of clothing & blankets and things aren't that bad in cold weather. 8-9 fist sized rocks heated to red hot and placed in a tin bucket w/ rocks upended into small hole in ground w/ tin bucket upended over it will heat a wedge for 6-7 hours fairly effectively. These were methods the men of the time knew and used. They survived and survived in some comfort.

[samgrant]

Any info on Mrs. Elizabeth E. Hutter's earmuffs?



"To Montgomery C. Meigs

October 16, 1863

Please see Mrs. Hutter, who has given most of her time to the soldiers, during the war, and who wishes to present an invention of hers for the soldier's comfort, which she would like to have introduced into the service. . . . I certainly would prefer having it over my ears in cold weather, to their being naked."

A.L. to Meigs